Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Whether we accept it or not, growing up in a pastors home and most of our time in the church being a pastors kid becomes part of our DNA. A lot of times we don't really even notice it but walking into a room you can always tell a PK or anyone who grew up in the ministry. How? Because it shows in literally EVERYTHING they do. Conversation alone is probably the most evident. If you watch most any PK in a room full of people you will see them go person to person starting conversations without a second thought. Moving from the most popular person in the room to often times the most avoided. They are the one's who jump to help while others run away, no matter the problem. Often time's you will see them take initiative, when they see a need that they know they can fill, it gets done. This comes from normally years of juggling the many hats that land on them. One of the biggest one's for me is how comfortable they are with the spotlight.

Not because we love it but because growing up most of us learned to be very comfortable in front of people. Ready for literally anything that can come up, most of the time happening very last minute. We will often times be the ones that will listen to everyone and everything someone has to say. If you talk to a PK or anyone growing up around ministry you can watch them talk to someone and see that they are normally the listeners. Always ready to listen and "be there" for people, no matter what. One of my favorite things to do as we travel and minister is to watch the ministers and their children, especially older pastors kids because they have their skills refined and easier to point out. The main reason is because you get to see that same DNA in others, in their own churches with their own responsibilities and its so exciting to watch and relate with their joys and struggles. I have realized by watching ministers and their families, that its not the titles or your age or what you are doing. Its who you are!

As I have transitioned from full time PK to full time missionary, I am realizing that what I have learned has become who I am. There are so many times that I walked into a church we were ministering at and caught myself because my natural tendency is taking the duties of the church. So if you are reading this as a current pastors kid and wonder if it every goes away, trust me, it does not! The only thing that will change is that the place God uses you, will not only be the walls of the sanctuary but in every day of your life. Sown into the way we think, the readiness of our actions, and the loyalty we have to people. Our lives our shaped forever because we have PK implanted in our very DNA. This to me is an amazing honor, as the things I have learned has helped enable me to be exactly who I am, and who God has called me to be. The things you learn each Sunday as you grow up; walking in the church, with the mindset of serving others, serving your parents, and most of honoring God with way we live and represent the life that He put us in.